Uncertain Refuge: Sanctuary in the Literature of Medieval England

Fugitives sought sanctuary in sacred spaces to escape persecution, but it was only a temporary respite from further action or violence. Elizabeth Allen's book explores the symbolic consequences of sanctuary seeking in English literary works, including miracle collections, chronicles, romances, and drama. It also extends to its resonances in a seventeenth-century play and modern America.

Format: Hardback
Length: 376 pages
Publication date: 22 October 2021
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Fleeing persecution by seeking sanctuary in a sacred space is a desperate act, but also a symbolic endeavor. Those who seek refuge invoke the divine presence to reach a precarious safe haven that imbues their lives with religious, social, or political significance. In medieval England, sanctuary was upheld under both canon and common law, and up to five hundred people sought sanctuary every year. However, what they found was not a static refuge but rather a temporary respite from further action, such as confession and exile, or further violence, such as jurisdictional conflict, harrying, or starvation. While sanctuary has typically been analyzed as part of legal history, Elizabeth Allen's book, Uncertain Refuge, delves into the symbolic consequences of sanctuary seeking in English literary works, including miracle collections, chronicles, romances, and drama. She explores the miracle of a stag's escape from the hunt into a churchyard and the account of a fallen political favorite who gains charisma as he takes sanctuary three times in succession. Allen's consideration of medieval sanctuary extends to its resonances in a seventeenth-century play about the early Tudor usurper Perkin Warbeck and even into modern America, with the case of a breach of sanctuary in southwest Georgia in 1963, when sheriffs took over a voter registration meeting in a local church.

Uncertain Refuge sheds light on a fantasy of protection and its impermanence that animated late medieval literary culture and remains poignantly alive, if no longer written into law, in today's troubled political world. The book explores the complexities of sanctuary seeking, the roles of different actors in the sanctuary system, and the enduring significance of this practice in shaping religious, social, and political identities. It provides a valuable contribution to the study of medieval history, literature, and culture and offers insights into the ongoing struggles for justice and protection in our contemporary world.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780812253443